Jim Ingraham: Axford newest hired helper to close games for Indians

FILe - In this Aug. 31, 2013 file photo, St. Louis Cardinals relief pitcher John Axford delivers during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the Pittsburgh Pirates in Pittsburgh. Free agent Axford, who had 46 saves for Milwaukee in 2011 but has struggled the past two seasons, has agreed to terms on a contract with the Indians, pending a physical. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)

Next up for the Indians: John Axford.
In baseball, closers are like migrant workers. They move from town to town, going where the work is. Have fastball, will travel.
Wherever there is a team that needs a ninth-inning pitcher ó a mere three outs, thank you very much ó thereís always a closer willing to roll into town and handle the work. Shelf life is usually two or three years, and thatís for the good ones. The bad ones tend to keep moving, from team to team, a new one every year or so.
Closers never seem to run out of work.
Amazingly, given their mild workload, many of them are grossly overpaid. Phillies closer Jonathan Papelbon and Washington Nationals closer Rafael Soriano both pitched fewer innings for the entire 2013 season than Clayton Kershaw pitched in August and September. Papelbon made $13 million, Soriano $11 million.
Chris Perez next year would have made close to $10 million through arbitration, which is one reason why the Indians released him. Heíll be replaced by Axford, who will make about half of what Perez would have made.
Axford was available because he lost his closerís job in Milwaukee, got traded to St. Louis and was likely to make more money with the Cardinals next year than the Cardinals were willing to pay a non-closer, which is what Axford would have been.
In Cleveland, Axford will go back to closing. At least thatís the plan. If he pitches the way he did in Milwaukee last year, he wonít be the closer very long in Cleveland, either. For the Brewers in 2013, Axford gave up six home runs in his first 11 innings pitched.
After his first 13 appearances, he was 0-3 with a 10.32 ERA. Thatís how he became an ex-closer. The Brewers found somebody else to do the job. Thatís the way it frequently works with closers. They are funny that way. Axford had 81 saves in 2011 and 2012. One month into 2013, he was an ex-closer.
Perez was an American League All-Star in 2011 and 2012. Heís currently out of work.
Closers are one of the weirdest species in all of professional sports. Typically they only pitch one inning two or three times a week, yet they are considered indispensably important by their teams and they are paid accordingly, usually being one of the five highest paid players on most teams.
Yet closers are not drafted and developed as such. Closers just sort of happen. Most of them are failed starting pitchers. As a starting pitcher from 1991-93, Jose Mesa had a 5.08 ERA. In 1995, he became a closer for the Indians, had a 1.13 ERA, a club-record 46 saves and finished second in the Cy Young voting and fourth in the MVP voting.
As a starting pitcher for the Yankees in 1995, Mariano Rivera had a 5.51 ERA. He was moved to the bullpen in 1996, and over the next 18 years, he had a 2.03 ERA, 652 saves and 13 all-star selections.
Rivera is the exception. He spent his entire career with the Yankees. Most closers are itinerate workers. Since the save became an official statistic in 1969, the Indians have had 24 different closers in 45 years. Nineteen of those 24 closers came to the Indians from other teams.
Only three of the 24 were drafted by the Indians. Jensen Lewis, who led the Indians with 13 saves in 2008, was a third-round pick in 2005. Steve Olin who led the Indians in saves with 17 in 1991 and 29 in 1992, was a 16th-round pick in 1987. Phil Hennigan, who led the Indians in saves with 14 saves in 1971, was a fourth-round pick in 1966.
Danys Baez (2003) and Jim Kern (1977-78) led the Indians in saves, but both were signed by the franchise as undrafted players.
The Indiansí other 19 closers since 1969 all came here from somewhere else: Perez, Kerry Wood, Joe Borowski, Bob Wickman, Steve Karsay, Mike Jackson, Mesa, Eric Plunk, Doug Jones, Ernie Camacho, Tom Waddell, Dan Spillner, Sid Monge, Dave LaRoche, Tom Buskey, Tom Hilgendorf, Steve Mingori, Dennis Higgins and Stan Williams.
In most cases, all of them went on to someplace else after Cleveland. Thatís what closers do. Many of them are baseball gypsies. Teams canít seem to decide whether closers are important or not. Teams donít go out of their way to develop them, even though they are constantly looking for them.
If this guy doesnít work, they go looking for another guy. Closers arenít that hard to find. One might even be living next door to you.